Thought Zero – Today is going to be a bit quick and dirty. Tons of stuff going on in the real world today, but let’s get this started.
1) Joining the announce team today is Rico De La Vega. I have never heard him before but apparently he does Future of Honor and Women of Honor broadcasts along with Spanish broadcasts of PPVs. Given a Women of Honor show is scheduled for next week, this is as good a time as any to introduce him to the main audience. Plus, it is a pretty good idea to give us a break on Colt Cabana.
2) We start with the Young Bucks and Adam Page in the ring. They announce they are going after the 6 man tag team championship now. Not a bad choice given how stale that division is.
3) Adam Page introduces the awesome Marty Scurll. He will be in a six-man mayhem match next. The participants are the following: Marty “The Villain” Scurll, Josh “The Goods” Woods, Vinny Marsaglia, Will Ferrara, El Terrible (from CMLL), and Frankie Kazarian. Interesting group of guys there.
4) This match is full of action as could be expected. Here are a few highlights – Will Ferrara showed off his new heel side to good effect. Josh Woods’ man bun was suitably distracting, The Kingdom versus CMLL feud was continued with Marsaglia and El Terrible. Marsaglia continues to distinguish himself as the most recognizable member of The Kingdom. Will Ferrara really likes to mock his opponent’s taunts, but I am not quite sure that is enough to make him a compelling heel. Kazarian was just sort of there. Shane Taylor came out and interfered in the match for some reason, attacking Josh Woods. Taylor looks slimmed down since The Rebellion disbanded.
5) But the MVP of this match, not surprisingly, was Marty Scurll. Scurll has the smart and chickenshit heel persona down. The only thing Scurll did the entire match, and this is no exaggeration, was break up pins and then run away. One time he ran all the way to the entrance way ramp. Not only that, he stole the pin after Kazarian hit Marsaglia with a slingshot cutter. Brilliant. It is stuff like that proves that smart is considered evil in pro wrestling. Totally backwards, but it is thecase.
6) Next match is Beer City Bruiser versus Kingpin Brian Milonas. Milonas looked very strong and impressive early on, including CATCHING Beer City Bruiser on a cross body block, carrying him around, and then hitting a fallaway slam.
7) The match goes back and forth with the fat guy in control and then the fatter guy in control. Milonas hit a superplex that only got two. Milonas missed a second rope legdrop and then Bruiser hit a top rope frog splash for the victory. After the match, Silas Young comes into the ring with his weird little sign and continues to bad mouth Jay Lethal. The crowd got a good Lethal chant going, but we went right to commercial.
8) Main event is Jay White challenging for the ROH TV title against Kushida. It’s always good to see Kushida in the ring, but I am not totally sure why Jay White is getting a title shot. But the match should be great between these two. I know the question everyone is waiting to be answered. The answer is no. Jay White has yet to find a scrunchie to tie his hair back. So expect tons of hair flips through the match.
9) For most of this match it was pretty paint-by-numbers. Neither guys looked like they were going all out to start. At one point Jay White locked on a very nice full Muta-lock on Kushida which both announcers sold as awesome, which it was.
10) Towards the end of the match, White reversed the hoverboard lock into a Flatliner and then a deadlift German suplex. That Flatliner should really be White’s finisher. It looks that impressive. Throughout, Kushida has been going back to the left arm of Jay White which may have helped Kushida kick out after a Kiwi Crusher. Kushida hit his surprise punch, but White followed with a forearm shiver. The finish came after both men fought on the top rope. Kushida gained control, slapped on the hoverboard lock, hit a top rope arm drag with the lock still connected, and then when White was close to the ropes, he picked him up and hit his cool small package driver for the pin. After the match, Kenny King came out, congratulated Kushida and alerted him that he has a title shot coming to him.
The main event took a little while to get going, but they finished strong. The Bruiser versus Milonas match was much better than your typical fat guy versus fat guy match, and Marty Scurll continues to show why professional wrestling is so much fun. Until next week…
